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Independent Curators International (ICI) announces new research programs

Independent Curators International (ICI) is launching a new publication series that provides insight into artists’ research interests; embarking on a year-long project examining what ‘international’ means in relation to curating today; and inaugurating a new Curatorial Research Fellowship.

Martha Wilson Sourcebook: 40 Years of Reconsidering Performance, Feminism, Alternative Spaces is the first in a new series of ICI books offering a fresh perspective on social, political, and cultural issues inspiring artists’ practices. With an introduction by Moira Roth, this 256-page compendium is comprised of primary research materials, rare archival documents, and excerpts from landmark publications that Wilson has selected from her own archive and annotated with personal commentaries.

For over forty years, Martha Wilson has produced photo- and video-based works, as well as performance personas. She has also instigated several feminist collaborative art projects including DISBAND, and in 1976 established Franklin Furnace, a non-profit art space in New York. Through this multi-faceted trajectory, Wilson’s career—and her Sourcebook—encapsulate the contestations around feminism, performance art, and socially engaged practice, accentuating how identity and positioning are not just self-defined but also negotiated within one’s context.

What is International Curating?

In 1997 curators from around the world met in Italy to discuss the (then) uncharted territory of curating large-scale exhibitions and biennials. Chronicled by critic Michael Brenson, discussions addressed the impact of multiculturalism, nationalism, and internationalism on exhibition-making, particularly in environments that were uncertain or unstable.

What would that conversation sound like today? In the current cultural landscape what does it mean to be working internationally? Through roundtable discussions, lectures, and interviews, ICI is inviting practitioners to contribute their perspectives, which will be the starting point for a new publication.

To launch this research, ICI has invited Jack Persekian to the U.S. this fall for public presentations and discussions with colleagues. Events have been programmed in collaboration with MIT in Boston; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; and the New Museum in New York. Persekian is the Founder and Director of Anadiel Gallery, the Al-Ma’mal Foundation for Contemporary Art and XEIN Productions in East Jerusalem. He was formerly Director of the Sharjah Art Foundation and the Artistic Director of the Sharjah Biennial.

Curator’s Perspective: Jack Persekian. October 9, 3pm
New Museum, 235 Bowery, NY

The Curator’s Perspective is a free, itinerant talk series developed for international curators to share their research and experiences with audiences in New York.

Other upcoming events in the 2011 Curator’s Perspective series include Hou Hanru at Hunter College (September 28, 7pm) and Rodrigo Moura at Park Avenue Armory (November 9, 7pm). Visit ICI’s website for more information.

ICI Curatorial Research Fellowship

ICI’s Curatorial Research Fellowship is intended to support practitioners in developing research that has potential to impact the curatorial field. Over the next year, inaugural recipient Sofía Olascoaga will investigate pedagogical models that could influence approaches to curating, while also interrogating the intersections between experimental structures for public programming and utopian communities.

Sofia Olascoaga is an independent curator based in Mexico City and formerly Head of Public Programs at Museo de Arte Carrillo Gil, where she founded Estudio Abierto. In 2010, she was a Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney Independent Study Program, and the first author of DISPATCH, ICI’s quarterly online journal.

ICI’s research programs have been made possible, in part, by grants from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts; and by the support of the ICI Board of Trustees.

About Independent Curators International


Independent Curators International (ICI) produces exhibitions, events, publications, and training opportunities for audiences around the world. Established in 1975 and headquartered in New York, the organization is a hub that provides access to the people and practices that are key to current developments in the curatorial field.

www.curatorsintl.org

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